David Gerard writes "Elsevier, in final desperation mode, is going after authors sharing their own papers online. Academia.edu has told several researchers that Elsevier 'is currently upping the ante in its opposition to academics sharing their own papers online.' This is the sounds of a boycott bit...

"Nelson Mandela, then President of the Republic of South Africa, received the Doctor Honoris Causa Award of the University of Liege in 1998.

ULg offered to handle him this award in November that year, in the framework of an event commemorating the 150th anniversary of the slavery abolition in France and the 50th anniversary of the universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Unfortunately, the agenda and the already fragile health of President Mandela did not allow him to undertake this long travel to Europe.

Academic authorities explained their motivations:Search for Knowledge cannot accommodate spirit or body constraints.Academics duty is to denounce them and to oppose to them. Authoritarian regimes have always had the temptation to muzzle universities, but we also note that it is in these regimes that will often raise the first sources of resistance.Numerous academics have paid, and still pay, in their flesh the price of this resistance.

Nelson Mandela fight - he spent 28 years in South-African prisons before leading his party (ANC, African National Congress) to the victory in 1994 - was therefore emblematic for the University."